Opinions

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Quintease

I don't see how denying gays equal rights to straights is helping the equality cause?

Surely we want to make being gay as legally safe and as normalised as possible so gays won't be discriminated against simply for being gay (or trans)?

Originally Posted by Quintease

I hate these people as guess what, WE DON'T LIVE IN THAT WORLD THAT YOU WANT!

I really think gay people stamping their feet and insisting that gays don't need marriage are hurting the cause, sorry but I do. It's very carriage-before-the-horse.

Yes it would be ideal to live in that world where gender and wedded bliss don't matter, but until we get there can we focus on something that the mainstream world/ Governments/ Religions/ Allies will understand? Can we just have a chance to be equal to everyone else first, before we start trying to change the society we live in. Surely equality is more important than fantasy right now?
People are dying out there, families are being split up , lovers are losing the right to see their loved ones, but these tossers have so much privilege that they can't be bothered to care about any of that? Fcuk them.

The bolded statement you've written is precisely why many of us do not see same sex marriage as the most important issue that should be at the forefront of queer/trans rights. Over and over again I've spoken as person who currently lives in a country where same sex marriage has been legal for years. Here in Canada "the policy" is there...what does it mean? Little to nothing for anyone who isn't a white middle class or upper class able-bodied cis sexed and wanna be normative gay. You want equality? Marriage rights isn't the most important drive towards equality. There are thousands of queer and trans people who are denied refugee status from nations where they truly are under threat of death or physical violence. Just as many or more who are imprisoned for being trans or queer, who are assaulted at the hands of governing bodies. Just as many who are homeless or live in subsidised housing, who are denied employment. Marriage for these people...it doesn't mean shit as far as being seen as human beings in the eyes of the government or society. Just like in Canada, same sex marriage will be passed in the US...and the white middle and upper classes will rejoice and forget about all other struggles...just like in Canada. Just like with the second wave feminist movement, those with the least social privilege will again be left behind, while the most privileged normative gays will be left to their white picket fence dreams.

That isn't the queer/trans community that is my community or the community I will fight for. I'm not going to sit here and fight for a time where only married couples are able to be united through immigration, or who can visit each other in the hospital or have benefits. You want to fight for the normative normalised dream, go ahead. But don't be surprised when there are so many of us who don't want that and who recognise that as much as certain classes of people will get the benefits, we aren't going to ignore the shit that continues to exist in marginalised communities.